Slackery News Tidbits

Time to catch up on Austin film news after the Labor Day weekend. Here's what we've got -- heavy on Fantastic Fest, but it's a little more than two weeks away at this point:

• Fantastic Fest announced its shorts lineup for 2010. Amid the list of animated and genre shorts, I immediately noticed one from local filmmakers: Nathan and David Zellner are premiering Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 to the fest. I can't wait. If you know of any other local filmmakers whose shorts (or features) are playing the fest, please let us know in the comments.
• If you weren't lucky enough to get a film into Fantastic Fest, you've got another chance -- the fest hs opened up its 2010 bumper competition. Fifteen seconds, must contain the word "Fantastic," and must adhere to this year's theme: "Inappropriate." I'm a bit afraid of what we'll see. Someday I'm going to find the time and creativity to do one of these myself.
• The Austin Chronicle Best of Austin awards include a few local film-related honors. In the Readers Poll, Master Pancake Theater, which is full of mocking humor for many a film, took home the Best Comedian or Comedy Troupe award. Best Composer went to Graham Reynolds, who has scored a number of local films and provided accompaniment to many silent film presentations in town. Cinematographer/filmmaker PJ Raval (Trinidad) was award Best Emergent Local Filmmaker. Alamo Drafthouse was named Best Local Movie Theatre, and Best DVD Selection for Kids was a tie between Vulcan Video and I Luv Video. In the Critics Picks, local composer Brian Satterwhite's "Film Score Focus" show on KVMA won Best Free Course in Film Appreciation, aGLIFF's Oscar party was awarded Most Glam Gay Party, and Gold Class Cinemas was named Most Luxurious Movie Theatre.

Let's catch up on the latest Austin film news, shall we? Here we go:

• The Hollywood Reporter has some updates on Robert Rodriguez's upcoming film Spy Kids 4, claiming that Jessica Alba may star in the film as the stepmom of the new spy kids. Whatever happens with casting, the movie may start shooting here in Austin next month. And oh, yeah, it's in 3D (eyeroll).
• Two features from local filmmaker Bob Byington are now available on Netflix Watch Instantly: Harmony and Me (my review, Don's DVD review) and RSO [Registered Sex Offender]. RSO has also just been released on DVD -- look for our review later this week.
• On the way home from dinner last night, I heard an ad on local radio station 101X for Fantastic Fest, urging listeners to buy fest badges as well as a special "gala pass" that will supposedly get you into all the big splashy fest screenings and events at the Paramount. I then got home and found out that the Fantastic Fest film badges (the ones for the whole fest) are now sold out. You can still buy badges for the second half of the fest or for daytime films ... no word yet from the festival on these mysterious "gala passes" but we'll keep you posted.
• Speaking of the Paramount, the historic Austin theater is running a contest this week and next to encourage you to join their "Mobile Film Club," in which you would receive text messages about their Winter Film Series and other movie-related events. You join the Mobile Film Club by texting the word FILMGOER to 70626. In return, if you join by September 1, you receive a free pass to one Paramount Theatre film, and are entered in a drawing to win a Movie Night for yourself and 49 friends.

So much movie news is going on in Austin that we need a second Slackery News Tidbits this week to handle it all. And I suspect more news will break right after we post this.

• Fantastic Fest has announced its 2010 opening-night film: Let Me In, the American remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In, which was very popular at Fantastic Fest in 2008. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and as-yet-unannounced cast members will be at the fest screening, which is the movie's U.S. premiere. I must admit I thought festgoers would not be thrilled about an American remake of a film they loved so much (I loved it too), but apparently the footage and trailers that have been released so far are generating a lot of good buzz, not to mention that a lot of Kick-Ass fans are excited about Chloe Moretz in one of the lead roles.
• Austin Film Festival also has some news: The fest's Distinguished Screenwriter Award recipient for 2010 is David Peoples. His writing credits include Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys and Unforgiven. Peoples will be in Austin for AFF in October and will participate in several of the AFF screenwriter conference panels.
• Let's not forget aGLIFF, which is coming up fast on September 7. The festival's full lineup is now available on the aGLIFF website. The fest has also announced that for the first time, it will include juried film awards. [Aside: Whoever designed the fest's Quick Guide this year should get an award of some kind, it's beautiful and functional.]

Wondering what's going on with Austin film these days? Well, wonder no longer. Here are this week's Slackery News Tidbits, hot off the online equivalent of the presses:

• The Austin American-Statesman reports that The University of Texas at Austin will announce a new chair of the Radio-Television-Film department today: documentary filmmaker Paul Stekler. Fortunately for all of us, he intends to continue making documentaries after assuming his new role in the department.
• For those of you who have been waiting, the full version of Grindhouse will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 8. The two-disc set includes the theatrical (shorter) versions of both Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, plus all the fake trailers including one trailer that isn't fake anymore ... Machete. My only complaint is that I'm not thrilled with the cover art; I would have preferred the original theatrical release art, which is way cooler.
• Those of us who missed last Thursday's screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World at Alamo South Lamar with Edgar Wright and many cast members now have a chance to enjoy the highlights from this event on video. My favorite: Because the event was extended to two theaters, the second theater had to wait for their Q&A, so they devised a little prank.
• Locally shot comedy The Happy Poet, which played SXSW this year, will return to Austin on Aug. 30 for a special screening at Alamo Ritz. Will there be hot dogs and vegetarian egg-salad sandwiches? That I don't know yet. Read Jenn's review for more details on this movie.

Isn't it a lovely day for Austin film news! Lots of interesting tidbits to catch up on:

• Traverse City Film Festival really does love Austin: The Happy Poet (Jenn's review) won the Michigan fest's Fiction Prize for Emerging Talent this weekend, sharing the award with SXSW 2010 film Tiny Furniture (my review). I spotted a few other SXSW selections in the list of award-winning films, plus one for Gasland, which played Marfa FF and has a few scenes in Texas (and which you all should see).
• The good news: John Pierson's master classes, which took place in the spring, were recorded and will be broadcast on KUT again this year. The bad news: They're part of "O'Dark 30," which airs from midnight to 3 am. Maybe you can find a way to set a timer to record them. We just missed last night's, but three are left: Elizabeth Avellan, Timur Bekmambetov, and Richard Linklater with Alison Macor.
• Speaking of Linklater and good/bad news, I'm happy to report that Me and Orson Welles is finally getting its much-deserved DVD release on August 17. However, it will only be available from Target. No word yet on when a wider release is planned, or when we might see a Blu-ray. So if you want to buy locally, you may have to hang in there. (Thanks to Annie for the heads-up!)
• SXSW has just announced it is "open for business" for its 2011 festival -- you can register for the Film Conference and Festival, or submit your film for consideration. Remember, it's way cheaper now than later.

Here's the most up-to-date Austin film news for you today:

• All the Boys Love Mandy Lane screened at Comic-Con in San Diego last week. The indie horror film was shot in Austin and Bastrop in 2005 or 2006, and played SXSW in 2007. It stars Amber Heard but the cast also includes Robert Earl Keen. Due to what we'll call Issues With the Distributors, the film never received theatrical release, and the only DVDs you can buy of it are in foreign countries. However, this may be changing soon: Producer Keith Calder posted on Twitter this weekend that "I now see a light at the end of the tunnel for Mandy." I assume he doesn't mean the Barry Manilow song. We'll let you know more tangible news about this film when we hear it. (Thanks to Scott Weinberg for the heads-up.)
• Also at Comic-Con: Machete cast and crew, showing previews and serving tacos. Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez appeared at a big Machete party where they worked a taco truck all dolled up for the occasion. Over at Cinematical, Jen Yamato posted a gallery of photos from the evening.
• You now have several chances to see the restored version of The Red Shoes in local theaters next month. You may already know that the Paramount will be showing the film on August 14 and 15 -- I actually have those days on my personal calendar so I won't miss it. But if you want a more glamourous evening for a good cause, Ballet Austin is having a fundraiser screening of the film on Thursday, August 5 at Alamo South Lamar. Admission includes a five-course meal (where nearly everything is a shade of red) with wine pairings. Personally, I'm torn -- I suspect the movie will look better on Alamo's 4K digital screen but I don't want to be distracted by food while watching it.

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You all know what I mean when I say "Fantastic" news tidbits, right? Fantastic Fest is in September and we should be receiving -- and publishing -- regular updates on the lineup, special guests, and whatever other treats the festival has in store for us this year. But there's some other Austin film news, too, so I thought I'd take the lazy way out -- er, I mean the convenient way for readers, that's it -- and combine it all into one nice newsy package.

• As I mentioned, Fantastic Fest announced 13 films in their 2010 festival lineup yesterday. If you are a Fantastic Fest fanatic, you probably already know this. I noticed people on Twitter exclaiming that they'd been constantly refreshing the festival website page while eagerly anticipating the news. Nearly all these films are from other countries: Sweden, France, Serbia, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong and Japan. I don't know much about most of them -- I saw Ip Man at Cinemapocalypse last year and liked it enough that I'd watch Ip Man 2, and The Violent Kind premiered at Sundance this year. IndieWire has the best discussion of the films so far, which isn't a lot ... but it's been pointed out to me that most of these films are North American premieres so U.S. writers don't know a lot about them yet.
• Speaking of Fantastic Fest, one of my favorite movies from the 2009 festival is now available on DVD and Netflix Watch Instantly: the animated surreal Belgian film A Town Called Panic (Panique au village). Go find this and watch this immediately. Here's my review from Cinematical.
• Jenn Brown and I really enjoyed the locally shot feature The Happy Poet at SXSW this year (Jenn's review). The filmmakers just let us know that they're showing the film in San Antonio this Saturday night at Unit B (with a bike ride downtown afterwards to a Q&A session). Hot dogs are also involved, naturally.

Good morning! Get your coffee, here's the latest Austin film news:

• If you haven't bought a film pass yet for Austin Film Festival 2010, this is certainly the month to do it. AFF is running a promotion called Film Pass Frenzy through August 2. Anyone who purchases two AFF film passes is entered into a daily drawing for prize packs. The prizes are awfully nice and include AFF Lone Star Badges, a $150 gift certificate to Uchiko, Fun Fun Fun Fest tickets and a Soul Train CD boxed set. You can always check the AFF Twitter feed before buying your passes to see what the daily prize is. Passes are $42 each right now and for eight nights of movies, that's an unbeatable deal.
• IndieWire caught Austin filmmaker Kyle Henry's latest short film, Fourplay: San Francisco at Outfest in Los Angeles last week -- their article also includes a nice photo of all the filmmakers involved. The Fourplay series will include four short films about transgressive sex acts in four different cities (one is Austin, yes). I look forward to seeing the entire series, but in the meantime, if you have a couple of bucks, you can watch Fourplay: San Francisco yourself right now over at IndiePix Films.
• Speaking of festivals, Lights. Camera. Help. has just announced the lineup for its 2010 fest. The three-day festival runs at the end of this month, from July 29-31, and focuses on documentaries, PSAs, and other short films and videos made by and for nonprofits. I noticed a few Austin nonprofits represented on the schedule, including Capital Area Food Bank, Austin Pets Alive, the Ann Richards School and Livestrong.

Here's your weekly dose of Austin film news in easily digestible tidbit form ... plus a couple of rants that I at least tried to keep short. It's been that kind of a week:

• Rolling Roadshow has announced its 2010 U.S. tour. The free-movie tour kicks off August 6 in Los Angeles with Jackie Brown -- the only film in the series with a female lead -- and ends August 27 with The Godfather, Part II in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. Levi's is co-sponsoring the tour, which may explain why nearly all this year's films are manly-man gung-ho selections from Dirty Harry to Convoy to On the Waterfront. The theme is "We Are All Workers" but, ahem, women are workers too. Still, I admit I'd love to see The Blues Brothers in Joliet Prison, especially if movie-themed food is available.
• Okay, filmmakers: Austin Film Festival is giving you one last chance to submit your shorts and features for the 2010 fest. The deadline is Wednesday, July 14 (tomorrow) to have your entry postmarked.
• As we mentioned in our DVD review, Bob Byington's locally shot film Harmony and Me is out on DVD today. But I wanted to draw your attention to another movie now fiiiinnnalllly available on DVD: Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud, which is a Warner Archive release. What does this film have to do with Austin? First of all, it was shot in nearby Houston. Second of all, the guy in the camera store is local actor/filmmaker Gary Chason. It's an odd movie that's hard to like, but definitely worth your time. 

After a long weekend, why not get back into the swing of things by catching up on Austin-related film news? Here's what you've been missing:

• Congrats to former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass, whose latest film Cyrus cracked the top ten at the box office last weekend ... despite being on only 77 screens. Two of those screens are in Austin (Alamo South and Arbor) in case you haven't seen the movie yet yourself. Read Don Clinchy's review, or my interview with the Duplass brothers, for more details.
• Okay, this is cool: Austin Film Society has compiled a YouTube page with trailers and clips from all the movies that are Texas Filmmakers Production Fund award recipients. In some cases, like Pigeon Impossible, you can watch the entire short film online. Go take a look, but make sure you've got some spare time, because it's addictive.
• One great advantage of all the Alamo Drafthouse cinemas now being run under one umbrella: Alamo Lake Creek is starting a free Summer Kids Camp just like the ones at Alamo Village and South. This week, bring tissues and head over there for The Iron Giant. By the way, if you're in Houston/Katy, Alamo Mason Park is also included in the series. Of course, we've updated our 2010 Guide to Free (and Cheap) Summer Movies with this info.